Cost of Shell-to-Sea protests

[badinage]

I was driving past the Shell to Sea protest outside Dail Eireann yesterday, and was struck by the level of Gardai present. Then I recalled supporters of the protests on previous threads on politics.ie, and Indymedia, expressing the view that a large Garda presence was a positive thing, as the greater the cost to the taxpayer in Garda overtime, the greater the pressure on the Government to give in to Shell-to-Sea’s demands. Of course, if this gamble doesn’t work, all they’ll have done is line the pockets of some very happy Gardai.

This got me thinking, why do they stop at maximising Garda overtime? Why not go on to waste taxpayer’s money in other ways, such as slashing the tyres of thousands of state-owed vehicles, or ultimately, engaging in acts of terrorism against state targets, such as setting fire to state owned buildings? Burning down one state owned building would cost the taxpayer more than several weeks of Garda overtime at the Mayo protests. If 50 protestors set fire to one building each, they could probably cost the taxpayer many times what their entire protests to date have cost us.

So why have Shell to Sea not gone down this route?
They have too much respect for the rule of law? Unlikely.
They don’t want to go to jail? Possibly, but doesn’t this make them cowards considering the jailtime served by the Rossport Five?
They don’t want to lose public support by being viewed as terrorists? Probably. But they don’t seem to have sufficient public support to stop the Corrib project, so this doesn’t seem a sufficient counter-argument.
They view bombing or setting alight state-owned property to be morally wrong?
They view the risk of injuries or fatalities to be too high?

(Not that I’m advocating terrorism, or trolling, I’m just trying to understand the mindset that views wasting taxpayer’s money as a potentially positive thing)

[Big_Ron]

Your hole argument is based around the assumption that the purpose of the protests is to take up as much Garda time as possible. That is not the purpose and if it was, it would be a fairly dumb tactic ..

[Bom]

I recalled supporters of the protests on previous threads on politics.ie, and Indymedia, expressing the view that a large Garda presence was a positive thing, as the greater the cost to the taxpayer in Garda overtime, the greater the pressure on the Government to give in to Shell-to-Sea’s demands.

You have begun your speculations from a false premise I believe. I have read a great deal of Shell-to-Sea's material and I have never seen this particular arguement put forward by any of them. I havent seen it posted here by their supporters or on indymedia, but its quite possible that I may have missed that particular poster's contribution.

And, on the contrary, I have read them consistently complain about the large Garda presence and how unfair/unwarranted/heavy-handed it all is. But this reality would not have so neatly facilitated your making the point you wanted to make, would it?

[DavidMurphyperson]

Guess what, Burke wasted a lot more of the peoples money when he gave away the Corrib gas feild.

[jjones]

Your hole argument is based around the assumption that the purpose of the protests is to take up as much Garda time as possible. That is not the purpose and if it was, it would be a fairly dumb tactic ..

I think you meant to say "your hole's argument". :P

[Podolski]

There would be no need for protests if the people of Erris were not being subjected to widespread intimidation, threats and the wholesale destruction of their beautiful peninsula to force them accept a lethally dangerous gas refinery and pipeline network in their neighbourhood.

Your question should be directed at the government which is not only wasting massive resources on providing Shell with a virtual private security force with the backing of the state and on for the government's handing over of massive amounts of Ireland's natural resources to one of the world's largest oil multinationals without a single cent gain for the Irish people.

In particular you should address your question to the Green Party which promised to reverse the government's pro-Shell policy if it got into power but has done the opposite.

[badinage]

Alright, it seems I was wrong in thinking the protestors wanted a large Garda presence. They do seem rather obsessed with it though, with an underlying air of near-proudness at the "mercenary army" sent out to police them (and obviously, display no sign of guilt at the waste of taxpayer's money)

[wombat]

Green Party which promised to reverse the government's pro-Shell policy if it got into power but has done the opposite.

The Greens are in government, F.F. are in power

[ON THE ONE ROAD]

Alright, it seems I was wrong in thinking the protestors wanted a large Garda presence. They do seem rather obsessed with it though, with an underlying air of near-proudness at the "mercenary army" sent out to police them (and obviously, display no sign of guilt at the waste of taxpayer's money)

well the next time theres a protest, if the gardi decided they wanted to go somewhere else like fight crime or something then iam sure the protesters wouldn't be offended. if they feel they have something more importent to do then let them do it.

[lostexpectation]

troll troll troll!!!!!!